Willes: Some final thoughts from Sochi

PHOTO: Julie Jacobson/The Associated PressVisitors to Olympic Park record the fireworks show behind the Olympic cauldron after the flame was extinguished at the end of the closing ceremonies at the 2014 Winter Olympics on Feb. 23.

SOCHI, Russia — Here’s my gold medal, the final post-Olympic edition of the musings and meditations on the world of sports.

• The New York Times ran an incisive, thought-provoking essay by Maria Alyokhina of Pussy Riot last week, which ran inventory on the many human-rights violations of the Putin regime and implored those writing about the Olympics to “not fall into forgetfulness because it’s fatal.”

Damn, I hate it when people appeal to your conscience.

Sochi, as is generally the case with the Olympics, put on a tremendous show. The venues were first-class. The organization, from the buses to the volunteers to the scheduling, was air-tight. The TV pictures, undoubtedly, were spectacular and the physical setting beside the Black Sea with the Caucasus Mountains as the backdrop was stunning.

PHOTO: David Goldman/The Associated PressA rain drop falls in the reflection of the Olympic flame in a puddle at the 2014 Winter Olympics on Feb. 18.

And yet, while you were taking it all in, there was a big part of you that was repelled by the spectacle. Like China in 2008, these Games were an attempt to legitimize a repressive, corrupt power. Like China, they were a testimonial to the ego, and the ambition of the country’s leaders.

The $51-billion price tag can never be justified. It is a tragic waste of money and resources. Yet the IOC, which exploits the high-minded Olympic ideals as part of its branding, doesn’t see the hypocricy of allowing an amoral regime to showcase its Games.

The lords of the rings, in fact, like doing business with totalitarian governments. They like the gleaming sports palaces and the new roads built in their name. The IOC will view these Games as an unqualified success and, measured against the standards they employ, they were.

When measured against a higher standard, not so much.

• Then again, the IOC is going to have its hands full with the spit storm they started with Nicklas Backstrom. To recap, the Swedish centre flunked a doping test because of an allergy medication he’s been taking for seven years. The test was performed on Wednesday and the results were delivered hours before Sunday’s gold-medal game between Canada and the Swedes.

Backstrom’s silver medal now rests with the IIHF in Zurich but this story isn’t going anywhere, any time soon. The NHLPA has already said it will go to war for Backstrom and the Swedes are incensed.

Other than sending a stern message to athletes who take Claritin, it’s difficult to see what the IOC gained from this.

• The women’s gold-medal hockey final was the best game I’ve ever witnessed live. Others might have been technically better. Others might have been played at a higher level. But when you roll in all the elements — the stakes, the emotion, the Canadian comeback, all the crazy stuff that happened in the last minute and overtime — I’ve never seen anything like it.

The debate over women’s hockey was reframed at these Olympics, although it seems the IOC has acknowledged the advancements of the women’s game and the sport has secured its place on the Olympic schedule. This tournament, you sense, helped in that regard. There was a fierce battle between four teams for the bronze medal. There were two epic contests between the U.S. and Canada. And there was evidence to suggest other countries have started to take the sport seriously.

As of this writing, the NHL’s participation in the 2018 games is improbable, which means the only best-on-best competition will be offered by the women. They made a huge step forward in Sochi. You hope they’ll be able to continue the momentum in Korea.

• On a somewhat related subject, here’s Team Canada’s Matt Duchene on the players’ participation in the Olympics: “Players love playing in this. It’s great for hockey. We watched guys become national heroes here. We obviously want to come back in 2018.”

The battle lines are being drawn here. The NHL doesn’t want to go to Korea. The players do. Stay tuned. This one will be worth following in a couple more years.

• Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston on the difference between the men’s hockey final in 2010 and 2014. “In Vancouver they won for a country; here they won for themselves.”

Good one, there.

• It’s a funny thing but, as successful as the sports were in Sochi, it’s hard to identify one defining moment. Canadians, of course, are thrilled because we won gold in men’s and women’s hockey and men’s and women’s curling. Russia’s Victor Ahn was a triple gold medallist in short track, but he’s hardly an international star. Other than that, it starts to get a little thin. There was no breakout headline maker, no crossover figure who stole the spotlight on the world’s biggest stage.

Like Russian food, these Games could have used some spice.

• Talk among yourselves: who was more dominant in their sport, curler Jennifer Jones or the Canadian men’s hockey team?

• Finally, for the media, these Games will always be remembered for the Olympic swansong of two of the finest men we’ve ever covered in the NHL: Sweden’s Daniel Alfredsson and Finland’s Teemu Selanne. Their abilities as hockey players need no further amplification here but it was their grace, their humour, their thoughtfulness that set them apart from their peers.

PHOTO: Jonathan Nackstand/AFP/Getty ImagesTeemu Selanne kisses his bronze medal after Finland’s win over the U.S. on Feb. 22.

They were always accessible and that has something to do with their popularity but, in a business that doesn’t promote a lot of meaningful interaction, they were very human and that’s why fans related to them.

They will be remembered as great hockey players. The people who wrote about them, will remember them for other reasons.

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